Creating Systems for your New Virtual Bookkeeping Business The Bookkeeper Basecamp Podcast on Acast

Virtual bookkeepers use bookkeeping software to organize the daily financial activities of your business – including the payments you’ve processed, and the expenses incurred. Most basic bookkeeping services will also reconcile your accounts monthly and send you updated financial reports. However, some services go as far as handing your payroll and HR. We’re all probably vaguely familiar with the idea that bookkeepers work with numbers and help to manage a company’s financial records.

• The course layout and navigation are not intuitive so it takes some time to get the hang of it.
• Check your state’s specific licensing requirements for details.
• Sign up to receive more well-researched small business articles and topics in your inbox, personalized for you.
• You’ll set up a long-term vision of what you want your own business to achieve and work backward to arrive at immediate priorities to focus on.

Repetition of your UVP on your website, business cards, and all other marketing materials will help define your company’s identity to potential clients. If you love numbers, organization, and some financial grunt work, bookkeeping is the perfect business for you. Start small, care about your clients, do a fantastic job, and soon enough, you’ll be your own boss if that is your goal. Any business that survives beyond the startup phase knows this instinctively.

How to Start a Virtual Bookkeeping Business in 5 Simple Steps

Setting up an online business can help you enjoy the benefits of a flexible work schedule and the comfort of working from home. Blake Bobit has been an entrepreneur and business owner for over 25 years. He founded Solution Scout to provide the most helpful answers to questions about business solutions. Blake provides strategic advisory services to businesses in many industries nationwide and is passionate about helping others reach new levels of success.

Bookkeepers are essential for other businesses to thrive, making sure that they’re keeping track of their financials correctly and on the right track to grow. This is a trend that is completely changing how bookkeepers and accountants do business, so you must understand how it works since it will have a direct impact on your business. Management of financial statements takes more than just calculating numbers, managing books, or keeping books. It requires core knowledge of finance, accounting, and taxation.

Why 2021 Is The Best Time To Start An Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business

Having an actual home office with a locking door is the best way to do this. If you don’t have the space for this, aim to have a desk with locking drawers where physical paperwork can be kept.

According to Entrepreneur, independent bookkeepers earn between $25 and $40 per hour depending on where they work and the nature of the job. As you become more established and gain more clients, you may consider bringing in a partner or small staff.

The Complete Guide to Freelance Business Ideas

And, I’m sure you have a lot of contacts in those areas now. Would you even need to know a specific accounting platform if you are working these types of models? I jumped from corporate to small business because I spent a lot of time doing general management reporting and I felt like I could provide that same support to small businesses.

• If you’re just starting your own cpa firm, you may not have any, but add some later when you do get them.
• Some states also require businesses to publish an advertisement in a qualifying newspaper or legal publication as part of the registration process.
• The capital covers purchasing hardware equipment such, as a laptop, and subscribing to various bookkeeping-related software like QuickBooks.
• 2) To get clients, write a well-optimized blog that increases your chances of appearing on the first page of Google.
• Networking could mean physically going to conferences and joining relevant Meetups, or it could mean meeting people through social media.
• You can also add a section with client reviews, your certifications, and experience.

Monthly financial reports, payroll services, utilization of bookkeeping software, and much more are handled by a virtual bookkeeping company. But before making the jump into virtual bookkeeping services, a business owner should know exactly what it is and what benefits it offers to small and medium-sized businesses. As a business owner, it can sometimes become an overly time-consuming task to keep up with bookkeeping, while trying to focus on growing and further establishing your company.

Check Other Interesting Posts

Basically, you need a minimum of about $1000 to kick start your online bookkeeping business. As a beginner, you can acquire other skills from online platforms by taking part in bookkeeping courses. To get you started, Bookkeeping Launch can teach you the basic bookkeeping skills and you can later enroll in their full course and learn how to grow and scale https://www.bookstime.com/ your business. A virtual bookkeeper is just a normal bookkeeper who instead of conducting activities in an office, he/she works online from a remote location. Basically, your work involves managing, recording, and storing financial documents for a company or business. Almost every business — large and small — benefits from the services of a bookkeeper.

Did you remember to acknowledge their birthday or their child’s high school graduation? Great service isn’t a strategy; its thoughtfulness taking an interest in your clients as individuals will make you a stand out. Customers in all businesses complain of the lack of a personal, human touch in business. Hence, ensure that you put in your best whenever you have the opportunity to handle every of your clients accounts.

Practice Management Software

The last thing you want is to come up with the perfect name only to find that it’s already taken. They’re likely to be forgotten as soon as they’re heard or read. If you’re having trouble with your business name, try a business name generator to jumpstart your imagination. Your UVP should be informed by both your competitor research, your target client’s main needs, and your unique set of hard and soft skills. This is a necessary document if you think you might seek financing from a bank or other investors. It shows that you know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how you will continue to grow in a positive direction over time.

When you operate your own business, one of your most important functions is finding leads and landing new clients. As a virtual bookkeeper, you can tap into a large pool of clients from across the country. Since your consultations and work can be completed virtually, you can work for small businesses far outside your geographical area — as long as you know how to get virtual bookkeeping clients. Ben Robinson started this course in 2015 to teach not only the technical but also the business side of running a bookkeeping business. As a former CPA who has owned two accounting firms, he knows first-hand what makes a good bookkeeper. To start a bookkeeping business you’ll need some training, a community of other bookkeepers to help you with questions, a good computer with strong internet, and a few clients. Good bookkeepers are always in demand since many business owners don’t have the time to run this side of their business.

Sage Intacct Advanced financial management platform for professionals with a growing business. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the median hourly rate for bookkeepers as $21.20. However, this reflects wages for bookkeepers employed by companies rather than those running their own business. Ask clients to leave testimonials for you on social media and include put testimonials on your website.

A bookkeeper’s work is applicable across many different types of industries — after all, every business needs to track and optimize its finances. How to Start a Virtual Bookkeeping Business However, to help market your business and set it apart amongst the competition, you may decide to specialize in a specific industry.

Launch a website when you’re ready to hang your shingle and start marketing.

You can then report analysis from those numbers and enable your clients to make better informed decisions based on their finances. Setting your fees and getting your pricing right for your bookkeeping business will take a bit of work but don’t feel that you need to price yourself too low. “These can then be sent to the accountant to produce the year-end accounts. Bookkeepers also prepare….and offer tax returns and payroll duties. A bookkeeper keeps track of money coming into and out of a business by maintaining accurate financial records. Business owners know other business owners and a personal referral goes a long way in this industry.

Sign up for a FREE Discovery Series to learn how to own a successful digital bookkeeping biz. I’m Rebecca, a side-hustling single mom who’s figured out the secret to making six figures from home. I help people just like you learn how to start money-making side hustles, get control of their budgets and achieve financial freedom! So the first step is brainstorming what kind of services you want to include in your business or side hustle. And taking an online bookkeeping course can be helpful if you have zero knowledge of what bookkeeping is or you need a refresher on the fundamentals. There are plenty of books like this one that’ll teach you the basics.

What listeners say about 11: Why 2021 Is The Best Time To Start An Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business

All businesses need to keep bookkeeping records by law, and someone has to do that work for them. Anyone operating in the US needs to make sure that they’re aligned with GAAP when working on financial reporting. GAAP forms the basis for all bookkeeping businesses and outlines the assumptions, principles and standards used to analyze transactions. GAAP standards were created and are regularly updated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board . Bookkeepers are accountable for the finances of the people and companies they represent. This means you have a responsibility as a bookkeeper to ensure that your financial statements are accurate and you protect your clients from fraud, risk, and more. In that vein, there are 4 specific regulatory areas that you need to account for outside of these general principles.